CHRONICLE

CHRONICLE

By NADINE BROZAN

Published: April 8, 1997

No one ever said ELTON JOHN was understated, but the singer may have hit a high note for flamboyance at his 50th birthday celebration in London. His costume was so elaborate that he had to be transported to the 600-guest party at the Hammersmith Palais in a trailer truck decorated to resemble an 18th-century French drawing room, The Times of London reported yesterday. The costume, which cost more than $80,000, included a 15-foot train of white ostrich feathers and a silver wig three and a half feet high, topped with a silver ship under full sail. The singer had to be lowered from the truck with a pneumatic lift. At the party he was seated on a golden throne.

Sir David Frost attended as a Phantom of the Opera, and Billy Joel as an American soldier. The designer Jean-Paul Gaultier arrived without pants and brandishing a black sink plunger.